Full header "Germany’s car industry association officially confirms the truth of President Trump’s reasons for withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord". President Trump complained that the “unfair” terms of the Paris Climate Accord made it difficult for American manufacturers to compete globally. Protecting and expanding those jobs was the primary reason offered for his withdrawal. He should now write a thank-you note to Germany’s powerful auto industry lobby, the VBA (Verband der Autoindustrie), which just validated his argument. Reuters reports: Germany's powerful car industry said Europe would need to reassess its environmental standards to remain competitive after the United States said...

BERLIN Â— German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindtâ€™s political future is tied to the success of imposing a toll on foreign drivers using the countryâ€™s autobahns, and despite being slapped down by the European Commission he isnâ€™t giving up on the idea.Â“The tolls are coming,Â” Dobrindt told the Bild newspaper on Friday, following news that the EU and Germany are about to settle their dispute over introducing the payments. Â“I am confident that we will be able to close negotiations with the EU Commission on a positive note in November.Â”Dobrindt told reporters he expected tolls to come into effect after national...

A plan by the conservative German Finance Minister to sell off almost half of the country’s Autobahn roadway system to private investors has many Germans up in arms. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party has put forth a plan to partially privatize the Autobahn network of roads across the country, according to a report by Der Spiegel on Saturday. His plan would involve selling private companies a share of up to 49.9 percent in a national company that would be in charge of construction and maintenance for the Autobahn. The company would be financed through...

A new survey published on Thursday shows that a majority of Germans are in favor of speed limits on the Autobahn—the country’s highways, which until now have been famously limit-free. The number of countries with no nationwide speed limit on highways is vanishingly small. Other members of the club besides Germany include Afghanistan, North Korea, and the Isle of Man, a British dependency in the Irish sea. Now pollsters from YouGov have found that 56 percent of the public would be in favor of a nationwide speed limit of 150 km/h on Germany’s 12,950 kilometers of motorway—but that lower limits...

I used to consider myself a very competent driver. One day back in 2010, I accelerated my precious 200 hp Volvo V70 out of a boring ferry departing from a Danish harbor and felt I was ready for the legendary Autobahn. Rather immediately though, I got stopped by a bunch of German highway police officers. "Most welcome to Germany, but take it easy", I got told (off). I soon forgot all about these words. 10 minutes later I nearly caused an accident because I failed to understand there was a que developing just one kilometer ahead of me. However, several...

Those who lollygag in the left lane of highways and interstates could be ticketed under legislation approved in the state House on Wednesday. House Bill 459, by Rep. Bill Hitchens, R-Rincon, was approved 162-9. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for any driver on a divided highway who does not move to the right when a car going faster approaches from behind.

The last surviving stretch of German autobahn built under Hitler is set to disappear, almost 80 years after it was first constructed. The four-kilometer stretch of road on the A11, northeast of Berlin in the state of Brandenburg, dates from 1936 and was part of Hitler’s massive motorway-building program of the Reichsautobahn.Newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported that the road survived Nazism and Communism and, despite some repair work, is still the original stretch from the 1930s. …

Germany is living up to its environmentally-friendly image by spending millions of euros on building bridges just for animals. Humans caught crossing them face a €35 fine. More than a hundred wildlife bridges are to be built in the next decade. Gerhard Klesen, a forester employed by the Ruhr Regional Association, spent a decade campaigning for an animal-only bridge to be built over a motorway in the town of Schermbeck in North Rhine-Westphalia. Man-made barriers such as roads and canals restrict animals’ natural movement, he said. That limits genetic diversity, which in turn leads to an increase in disease and...

The speed limit on the Intercounty Connector was recently raised from 55 mph to 60 mph. Should it go even higher? The road—also known as MD 200—was designed for speeds up to 60 mph. But that's not stopping one Washington Post reader from insisting the state should turn the ICC into the American autobahn. The German highway allows drivers many long stretches of road without any speed limit. In his letter to The Washington Post, Bethesda resident Brian Moore says it's a concept Maryland should at least consider:

German traffic police have been left looking like proper muppets by a British prankster. An Audi TT with British registration plates has been repeatedly caught speeding on roads in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth. But because continental speed cameras are set up for left-hand drive vehicles, the cameras keep missing the driver’s face. Instead, they keep capturing clear views of a manic Muppet-like toy which the cheeky Brit has propped up on his passenger seat. But police admit they are even baffled about the identity of the muppet. The No.1 suspect is Animal – the manic drummer from The Muppet...

The German Chancellor has snubbed the country’s green lobby, after she ignored calls for speed limits on Germany’s motorways. Yesterday it looked as if the 80mph blanket speed limit would be implemented, as the Socialist Party voted in favour of it during a key party congress. But, in an interview today the Chancellor, Angela Merkel spoke out, insisting that she would stand against the speed limit, despite the vote being won by members of her own coalition party. Merkel stated on German television: “It won’t happen with me”. Concern for the environment has prompted a renewed inspection of the de-restricted...

PFAFFENHAUSEN, Germany – Ask Marc Bongers about the wisdom of introducing a speed limit on the German autobahn, and he answers by impatiently revving the 435-horsepower engine of a specially modified Porsche. Slowpokes, he said, already spoil half the fun. Few things are closer to the German heart than the freedom to drive like a Formula One champion. Rule-bound and risk-averse in so many other ways, Germans regard driving on the autobahn at face-peeling speeds as close to an inalienable right. Now, though, Germany's love of speed is colliding with its fears about global warming, as it becomes clear that...

BERLIN -- An EU official called on Germany to give up the famous freedom of its highways and impose speed limits on the autobahn to fight global warming -- a demand that drew angry responses on Sunday in a country that cherishes what it calls "free driving for free citizens." The call came as the German government makes action against climate change a priority of its current presidencies of the EU and Group of Eight. Still, the German environment minister showed little enthusiasm for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas' suggestion and a group representing the country's auto industry said it...

BLAST KILLS ONE World War II Bomb Explodes on German Motorway A highway construction worker in Germany accidentally struck an unexploded World War II bomb, causing an explosion which killed him and wrecked several passing cars. A World War II bomb has exploded during construction work on a German highway, killing one worker and injuring several motorists who were driving past, police said. The worker had been cutting through the road surface near the south-western town of Aschaffenburg when his machine struck the bomb and triggered it. Police said they weren't sure yet what type of bomb it was. "The...

Man drives wheelchair on autobahn From correspondents in Berlin July 27, 2005 From: Reuters TRUCK drivers in Germany were shocked to find themselves sharing a busy motorway with an 80-year-old pensioner travelling at extremely low speeds in a wheelchair, authorities said on Tuesday. "He wanted to go shopping at a service area up the road from his home," said a spokeswoman for police in the eastern town of Goerlitz. "He took to the hard shoulder in an electric wheelchair capable of speeds of between 6-10 km/h." Several passing truckers alerted police, who were on hand to pick the man up...

WASHINGTON (AP) — States that raised their speed limits to 70 mph or more saw a dramatic increase in the number of people killed in traffic accidents, according to a report released Monday by an auto safety group funded by insurers. The study, compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and based on data collected by the Land Transport Safety Authority of New Zealand, determined 1,880 more people died between 1996 and 1999 in the 22 states with higher speed limits. A separate review of six states by the institute found drivers traveling the fastest they have since long...

It began raining cash on the German autobahn on Wednesday, leading to a major traffic jam and road closure, police said. A 42-year-old motorist left a briefcase full of tens of thousands of euros in cash on the roof of his car and drove off onto the highway in the western city of Bochum, sending the bills flying. Because drivers stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road to collect the money, the autobahn was blocked for about 10 minutes. Of the original sum, police were only able to recover about 3,000 euros. The briefcase was missing and police...